Whenever we think about Terex we always seem to remember those big lime colored green loaders and rock trucks that were powered with screaming jimmy diesels. Old terex loaders could be found in a lot of gravel pits around the country and some of the larger ones could be found in aggregate operations and even mining operations. It seemed at one time there was either Terex loaders of Michigan loaders.

You might not see many of those old green loaders anymore these days, but if you go to some job sites you are bound to see some white colored loaders or white excavators and even white colored backhoes. With a new color, although not a favorite of mine, Terex is making a comeback on many job sites. After it's popular rock truck, there is getting to be more and more backhoes and excavators made by Terex on a lot more job sites.

Terex excavators come in a wide variety of sizes and weight. The smallest excavator is the TC10 model with is powered by a 10 horse engine and weight in at 2500 pounds. This little digger has a digging depth of 5 feet and a few inches. The mini line up of excavators runs all the way from the TC10 up to the TC60 which has 12, 600 pounds and is powered by a 44 horse and can dig a depth of 12 feet 4 inches. After that there is a large jump in size where you will find the TC75 and the TC125. The TC125 is a 27000 pound machine, 102 horse and can dig over 14 feet.

One of the interesting ideas that the TC125 has is the off set knuckle boom feature. Instead of a arched type boom like most excavators have this boom is hinged at the arch. In a way it is like having 3 arms instead of 2.. This is an option for this model as you can still get the regular 2 piece boom. Both rubber or steel tracks are available as is the handy dozer blade.

Of course Terex also build backhoes. In fact it builds both center mount and side shift mount configurations of backhoes. In the center mount line up there are 5 models ranging in sizes from 15000 pounds to 17600 pound and horse power ratings ranging from 88 horse power to 100 horse power. Digging depths on all models are in the same range from 14 feet to 15 feet and a few inches.

The TX970B model is largest of the center mount models. This backhoe comes in both 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive. It also comes with all wheel steering or as some would call it, "crap steering". This along with the JCB backhoe are one of the few that have this feature. All wheel steering is a real fine feature in sloppy areas or when working side hills or slopes. A wide variety of attachments and also having the extenda hoe feature can make this backhoe the machine of champions.